The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Forkish 75% Whole wheat levain bread with fresh yeast

Bröterich's picture
Bröterich

Forkish 75% Whole wheat levain bread with fresh yeast

I got my hands on some fresh yeast yesterday and tried it on Forkish's 75% Whole wheat levain bread (p. 144) with fresh yeast.

I followed the recipe pretty closely with some variations.

Instead of whole wheat flour I used organic Red Fife wheat which seems to be similar in consistency to whole wheat.

I found that my doughs get a little too wet for my handling skills when I use the amount of water that the recipe calls for.

I used 620 mL instead of 660 mL.

Instead of 1.75 g instant dried yeast I used 5 g of fresh yeast that I dissolved in 20 mL of warm water.

The dough increased phenomenally in about 4.5 hours. (I had gone to the movies so I didn't watch.)

I divided it as called for and placed it in bannetons in the fridge for some 12 hours. The next morning the dough had risen again quite a bit in the fridge so that I could even see bubbles on the surface.

When I transferred the loaves to a Dutch oven and a cloche they collapsed quite a bit and spread out.

From the looks of it I would say they were overproofed. What do you think?

The loaf on the left showed still fairly decent oven spring and was baked in the Dutch oven, the one on the right came out of the cloche and stayed a bit flat.

It seems that the fresh yeast packs quite a bit more punch than I expected.

baliw2's picture
baliw2

overproofed

Ingrid G's picture
Ingrid G

Over-proofed and too much yeast

Bröterich's picture
Bröterich

If too much yeast ? 

What conversion factor would you use? I assumed a ratio of 1:3 for dry:fresh  yeast.

Tom

Ingrid G's picture
Ingrid G

Sorry, I jumped the gun big time. I didn't read - thought you changed the instant yeast to 5g instant!

Anyhow, I still think it's over-proofed. I live in sub-tropical climate and have to adjust the proofing time for all recipes. I don't know where you live, but try and check after, say, 3 hours and keep going until the finger test shows your dough is ready to go into the bannetons. Remember, there is more rise happening in the refrigerator.

Good luck.

madbakerbakes's picture
madbakerbakes

Not sure if it's a factor, but in Forkish's book, he says mix the yeast with the dough and no need to dissolve it in water beforehand. This helps with the long bulk fermentation and proofing time.

jeano's picture
jeano

Think you'd have a mess if you tried that with fresh yeast. 

I find with instant yeast I  have to preheat the oven before I get retarded loves out of the fridge, and even with retarding the bulk ferment it's pretty easy to ovenproof.